An Era of Discrimination at Camelback Inn
Jewish Engagement in Civil Rights
Unfortunately, Anti-Semitism was also one of the salient features of post-war Arizona life. Numerous resorts, hotels, and country clubs denied admission to Jews as a kind of “Gentlemen’s Agreement”. One of the most notorious perpetrators of this anti-Semitism in the Mid Century period was the Camelback Inn, owned at the time by Jack Stewart. The letters below from Louis Vosburgh and H.W. Hill clearly illustrate how local resorts quietly discriminated against Jewish clients.
In response to the treatment, members of the Jewish Community created their own nonexclusive establishments: The Century Country Club in Scottsdale, now the Orange Tree Golf Resort, and the Arizona Manor Hotel, which was located at 24th Street and Camelback Road in Phoenix.
It should also be noted that the Camelback Inn today no longer practices any of this discrimination, and even opened a kosher kitchen facility at the resort in 1974.
The swimming pool area at Camelback Inn ca. 1950 - provided by Arizona State Library.
Aerial view of Camelback Inn in Paradise Valley ca 1960 - provided by Arizona State Library.
Designed by architect Edward Loomis Bowes, the Camelback Inn resort cost $75,000 to build and only accommodated 75 guests. Early guests included many celebrities and business leaders, including Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Bette Davis, and J.W. Marriott, Sr. Today the Camelback Inn continues to be a luxury hotel priding itself on providing guests with attentive service, deluxe amenities, heated outdoor pools, garden terraces and desert trails in the Sonoran Desert. They have 18-hole championship golf courses and their tranquil day spa.
Tourists playing golf at Camelback Inn ca. 1970 - provided by Arizona State Library.
CLICK THE ABOVE NEWSPAPER IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
Jewish Post,Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 April 1957*
DOWNLOAD: VOSBURGH and CAMELBACK - Vol 1.No. 5 Feb-March 1957 (Periodic Report by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith, NY, NY)
READ MORE: Camelback Inn Discrimination Phoenix Jewish News
READ MORE: Camelback Inn Arizona Sun
Sources: https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=JPOST19570419-01.1.9&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- , http://library.adl.org/PDFs/Highlights/Hotel-Resort_Discrimination_Collection/General/Articles/1957-02--Vosburgh_and_Camelback--Rights--Vol._01_No._05--pages_9-10.pdf , https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phxcb-jw-marriott-scottsdale-camelback-inn-resort-and-spa/, You Tube, Charlie Dean Archives
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At Camelback Inn in Arizona - Western Fashions, 1950’s
(Source: You Tube, Charlie Dean Archives)
